“That’s actually really sweet,” I told him.
He shrugged a little and stared off to the side. “Well, I mean. She’s…a lot. But she’s always been there for me. Felt like the least I could do, you know?”
I nodded slowly. My own mom had never really been that person for me—the one I could count on, lean on. But I knew what it meant to have someone step into that role anyway.
Ashley had always done that for me. She had her twins and Beckett now, her own family, and still, she made space. She was the one who checked in, who noticed, who asked if I was okay—even when I wasn’t ready to hear the question.
She was the reason I was here. And it felt good to do something, even a small something, in return.
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Only child.”
I hummed, letting that settle.
I wondered how my mom and I would carry on if we didn’t have Ashley to run interference for us.
I loved my mom. Of course, I did. She did her best. But I would probably like her a lot more if she could like anything about me, without trying to change it first.
Rather than controlling me. Rather than always looking at me like my life choices were some sort of personal offense.
From my choosing not to go to college to the guys I dated.
“What about you?” Noah asked.
“One sister. Ashley’s four years older than me,” I said, then added how her husband commuted to Boston so they could stay close to my mom. I told him about my twin nephews, my mom’s injury...and then I winced slightly. “Ashley basically threatened to make me move in with Mom if I didn’t go on this trip.”
It came out more flippantly than I intended, but I didn’t try to walk it back. Not entirely. “It’s just…my mom and I don’t exactly thrive in close quarters. I can’t imagine what that would be like with the breakup and…everything that came with it.”
I kept my eyes forward, hoping the seat in front of me would swallow the rest of that sentence.
“She had a lot of opinions,” I added, after a beat. “And I wasn’t really in the mood for an ‘I told you so’ from someone who married her high school sweetheart.”
I tried to keep the tone light, but it landed heavier than I expected.
Beside me, Noah let out a quiet breath. “Yeah. Relationships...they’re rough.”
Then…
“I’m divorced. Little over a year.”
“Oh, wow,” I said and instantly winced. “I mean…I’m sorry?” He shrugged, easy. “Don’t be.”
No sigh. No bitterness. No trace of lingering sadness.
Just…nothing.
Which was strange. Because anytime someone mentioned his job, the tension rolled off him like static.
That contrast alone was enough to make me curious.
“Was it…amicable?” I asked, cautious.
With the sun slanting through the window, his eyes looked almost silver when he glanced over. “Do people actually have those?”
Ha. “Leo and I didn’t.” Over five years. Not wasted exactly. But not what I’d pictured, either.
Honestly, if this were a date, I’d be steering the conversation far, far away from heartbreak. But this wasn’t a date. We were friends, right?
